Always read the fine print Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. And now, a report from Washington. The International Monetary Fund's D.C.-based staff peered deeply into Canada's pandemic response and yesterday published their preliminary findings. The IMF gives reasonably good marks to the feds. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's department noted the IMF's view that Canada “provided crucial support to the economy and the functioning of financial markets, and helped protect lives and livelihoods.” The IMF also snuck in several notes of caution for Ottawa. The lack of a fiscal anchor meant to hold Ottawa's feet to the fire could "add to uncertainty." Billions in planned stimulus that's yet to be allocated "needs further justification." And the feds should "help to mitigate a broad-based and persistent buildup of leverage and address vulnerabilities in the housing market." The finance minister threw down the gauntlet with Erin O'Toole on C-14, the government's latest COVID-19 response bill. Freeland wrote a letter to the Tory leader in which she acknowledged the role of the opposition, but asked that Conservatives either help pass the bill or at least stop delaying its progress. "If you oppose the bill, as you have every right to do, end the delay, let the bill come to a vote, and vote against it," she wrote. O'Toole brushed off the tough talk. Freeland "knows that this legislation is intended to fix problems from their last rush exercise," he told reporters. "If it's a priority, we should be debating that bill today and every day until it gets passed." Speaking of spending: Enter Paul Wells, who writes that Freeland's orders from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to get Ottawa's fiscal house in order were clear—and then they weren't. Freeland's job, in the midst of premiers clamouring for annual increases in health funding and Ottawa's stimulus plan that caught the IMF's attention, was to not create permanent new spending. But weeks later, Trudeau excitedly announced permanent new spending on public transit. What gives? You say to me: Paul, you are making a huge fuss over very little. The feds want to avoid massive spending now; they plan for modest spending later. And that’s true. Except it ignores what’s between the “now” and the “later:” up to $100 billion over three years, already promised by Freeland in her fall update, for “stimulus” measures designed to build an innovative green economy. A large part of that $30-ish billion per year will certainly end up going toward public-transit projects. Most people have a term for temporary spending that is followed by permanent spending. Most people call that sort of thing “permanent spending that starts earlier.” Pass the torch: O'Toole urged the Liberals to lobby for the 2022 Olympics to be relocated from China, which has faced widespread accusations—including from an all-party Commons committee—of genocide against Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang province. "The Olympic Games and the athletes who compete in them have and will inspire the next generation—and they must continue to provide such inspiration," he said. "But not in China, in the shadow of a genocide.” Trudeau didn't accept the premise that a genocide is occurring in Xinjiang. He called it an "extremely loaded" term that "we should be looking at," but stopped short of expressing a definitive opinion either way. Tomorrow, the Liberals and Conservatives will fight a proxy war at the Canada360 Economic Summit presented by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. Procurement Minister Anita Anand will open the festivities with a keynote at 9 a.m. O'Toole will, however, get the last word when he delivers a closing keynote at 4:30. We all know that internet commenters are wont to type out of anger. And if Public Safety Minister Bill Blair thought his new gun control bill wouldn't stir tempers, he need only look at the 8,290 comments underneath the CBC News story on C-21. Blair's bill, promised last year just as the minister's agenda was flooded with priorities, introduces a new voluntary buy-back program for banned "military-style" assault weapons. He says the price tag could add up to $400 million, though Ottawa isn't sure how popular the program will actually be among gun owners. The NDP wants to call in...the army? Jagmeet Singh pitched a large-scale, military-led national immunization program that would strip responsibility from the provinces. "There seems to be this notion that, 'OK, we get the supply, then it's up to the provinces to deliver it.' And I don't buy that," he said, raising eyebrows among lefties who aren't keen on military-run programs. Your moment of Zen: Conservative MP Mike Lake made a member's statement in the Commons yesterday that urged everyone in the chamber to avoid polarizing rhetoric. "Before our political labels, we are all human beings," he said. "The middle of the road is simply our common ground." Those words caught the attention of Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt, who recommended they be adapted to a civility oath of office. Not a bad idea. Read Lake's full statement. —Nick Taylor-Vaisey | 